The profit of the state-owned Ukrgasbank in January-September 2023 amounted to UAH 2.92 billion, while the bank ended the same period in 2022 with a net loss of UAH 3.36 billion, according to the financial institution’s website.
“The target was exceeded by more than UAH 1.05 billion,” Ukrgasbank commented on the financial result.
The operating profit before taxation and deductions to reserves for January-September of this year amounted to UAH 3.25 billion, in particular, in September the bank received UAH 530 million of operating profit, and net operating profit amounted to UAH 299.6 million.
The press service noted that Ukrgasbank is among the five banks with the largest increase in customer accounts: the growth of the hryvnia portfolio of individuals and legal entities in January-September amounted to UAH 2.8 billion and UAH 18.4 billion, respectively.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of September 1, 2023, Ukrgasbank ranked 4th in terms of total assets (UAH 168.6 billion) among 64 banks operating in the country, its net profit for the first half of the year amounted to UAH 2.6 billion.
In the third quarter, the state-owned bank’s network decreased by one branch and now includes 218 structural units across the country.
Blackstone Group Inc. the world’s largest alternative investment management company, recorded strong net income growth in the third quarter of 2023 and an increase in assets under management.
According to a company press release, net income for the July-September period totaled $552 million, or 73 cents per share, compared with $2.3 million, or less than 1 cent per share, for the same period a year earlier.
Meanwhile, distributable earnings fell to $1.2 billion from $1.4 billion.
Revenue jumped to $2.54 billion from $1.06 billion.
The volume of assets under management of Blackstone at the end of the third quarter amounted to $1.01 trillion, up 6% over the year.
The company will pay a dividend of 80 cents per share at the end of the third quarter.
Blackstone’s stock price is down 5.8% in Thursday trading. Since the beginning of this year, the company’s capitalization has increased by almost 30% to $124.3 billion.
The state enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” together with communities and international partners launches the Forest Recovery program, said the general director of the enterprise Yuriy Bolokhovets.
“There are more than 1.5 million hectares of self-sown forests in Ukraine. Previously, such forest was ruthlessly destroyed. But now there is a legal mechanism to save it. We are launching the Forest Recovery project together with our western partners Forest Europe and Eustafor. They support such an idea,” he wrote on Facebook.
Bolokhovets said that communities on a volunteer basis transfer land plots, in particular degraded areas or self-sown forests, to the state enterprise. They understand the importance of preserving and enhancing nature, the need to improve the ecosystem, to pass on to their descendants a comfortable environment for life with the presence of recreational areas, ecotourism, etc.
Director General of “Forests of Ukraine” thanked eco-conscious communities that care about the future of society. They will be awarded with diplomas, and information about the project implementation will be passed on to international partners.
The first winner of Forest Recovery was Omelnytska community (Poltava region), which transferred 55 hectares of land for forest planting and almost 129 hectares of self-seeded forests for the restoration of the branch “Kremenchug Forestry”. In gratitude, foresters landscaped the central street of the settlement.
The European Union has approved the decision to extend temporary protection for refugees from Ukraine until March 4, 2025, the European Commission said.
“On September 27, 2023, ministers reached a political agreement to extend temporary protection for Ukrainian nationals until March 4, 2025. The decision was taken on October 19, 2023,” the European Commission said in a statement on its official website on Thursday.
The EU activated the Temporary Protection Directive on March 4, 2022. This is an EU mechanism that is activated in exceptional circumstances of mass influx to provide collective protection to displaced persons and reduce pressure on the national asylum systems of EU countries.
According to the EC, a total of 4.1 million refugees from Ukraine are registered for temporary protection or similar schemes in the EU.
The Verkhovna Rada on Friday adopted in the first reading the finalized bill (#9656d) on temporary doubling – up to 36% in 2024-2025. – rate of tax on profits of banks.
According to the first deputy head of the relevant committee, a member of the faction “Golos” Yaroslav Zheleznyak, 247 people’s deputies voted in favor with the required minimum of 226 votes.
He specified that the bill also prohibits for this period the crediting of profits against the losses of previous periods.
“In the budget of 2024, the adoption of this law is laid down as +9.9 billion UAH”, – reminded Zheleznyak.
According to the National Bank, the net profit of 64 operating Ukrainian banks for the first eight months of this year amounted to 95.1 billion UAH, profit tax – 17.0 billion UAH, including PrivatBank – 39.2 billion UAH and 9.0 billion UAH, and four other state banks – 20.6 billion UAH and 0.4 billion UAH.
Smart Holding’s Smart Maritime Group (SMG), which unites Kherson and Mykolaiv shipyards, has resumed ship repair at Mykolaiv shipyard after a year and a half break.
According to SMG’s press release, the first client after the forced pause was DELTA III, a tugboat built in 2006.
SMG specialists are performing scheduled maintenance, which includes cleaning and painting the hull, servicing the main mechanisms, including the engine and navigation system.
The owner of the tug, Delta Tag LLC from Mykolaiv, has been a regular customer of Smart Maritime Group since 2020, ordering ship repair services for its fourth vessel.
“We are accustomed to the high quality of work and professional service that our vehicles receive here. Due to military threats at sea, we cannot access other repair assets, but we still wanted to return to a proven service. Therefore, we are glad to resume the shipyard’s work, it is important to have specialists here in Ukraine,” said the company’s CEO Oleksandr Korenetskyi, as quoted by the press service.
In 2021, SMG modernized six bunkers and repaired 51 vessels and increased revenue by 17% to UAH 440 million. However, in 2022, due to Russia’s full-scale invasion, the company was forced to terminate previously concluded contracts, including the construction of two hulls for a Dutch company, a complete tugboat for a Ukrainian customer, and an agreement for the manufacture of metal structures. The Kherson shipyard was under occupation and out of the company’s control, but even after the liberation, the production facilities are under constant shelling, making it impossible to resume work. Therefore, the ships can only be repaired at the Mykolaiv shipyard.
“The Ukrainian sea is not safe, so we cannot resume shipbuilding work, our foreign customers simply cannot reach us safely. But the resumption of repairs is a good sign. Ukrainian business needs to work. This is a matter of employment, taxes, and economic sustainability. Moreover, shipbuilding is a strategically important industry for the country. And although we are a private business, we understand our responsibilities. And we are grateful to our customers who come back to us in all external circumstances. This is probably just the beginning,” said Dmitry Krasnikov, CEO of Smart Maritime Group.
The press release notes that additional difficulties were faced by the business due to government pressure on Smart Holding. The imperfect sanctions policy has blocked the work of the holding’s most profitable gas business, which makes it impossible to support the company’s other investment areas, which suffer physical and economic losses during the war. In addition, one-sided media coverage of the situation around the Holding undermines the reputation of the shipbuilders, which may affect future contracts, the press service summarized.
SMG is the largest shipbuilding holding in Ukraine. It was founded in 2009 to manage the maritime assets of Smart Holding. It unites the two largest shipbuilding companies in Ukraine: Black Sea Shipyard and Kherson Shipyard.
“Smart Holding” owns 23.76% of the Metinvest mining and metallurgical group, 95% of the shares in the Smart Maritime Group shipbuilding holding, and 99.97% of the shares in the Santis LLC trading and financial company. “Smart” also owns large assets in the fuel and energy industry, real estate development and the agricultural sector.
